It’s easier to work with the individual park calendars. To view a day–for example, to figure out if and when Fantasmic or Wishes is on that day–go to the individual park’s monthly calendar and click within the date you are curious about.

easyWDW.com is a neat, often hilarious site, with a great community. It covers a lot of the same terrain as this site, but in some different ways, and not focused on first-time visitors. Best is the crowd calendars and park recommendations

Deb Wills’s AllEars.Net tons of information on almost any Walt Disney World topic

The weekly Walt Disney World Park Update on MousePlanet.com (see below) is mostly too geeky for first time visitors but in the middle of the page almost always has great information on upcoming ride closures, hotel renovations, and such.

OTHER GREAT DISNEY WEBSITES

Dad’s Guide to WDW, like easyWDW.com, covers much of the terrain of this site but with a different spin, and without the first-time focus. As with easyWDW, I don’t agree with everything, but Carl’s site is well worth checking out

I’d like you to review my site at MickeysFanClub.com This is a Disney destination planning web site for people with disabilities. Working closely with Disney Cast Members and disability organizations, we provide infromation that make enjoying Disney’s magic available to everyone.

Hi Dave, I have a 9 year old son who will be going to Wdw for the first time. My problem is we live in California and go to the Disneyland/calif adventure park in Anaheim at least once a year. Since this will be our first trip to Florida, what itinerary would you suggest for a 10 day trip.? We also want to go to universal to see Harry potter attraction. Thank you for your suggestions.

Dave, I called the concierge at our Universal hotel and he was very helpful re restaurants there. Apparently not as crazy there re reservations for dinnersas at WDW.
Now another question for you. Since part of our week at WDW includes the MLK holiday (Jan. 16), which park would be best for us to visit on that crowded day? Thanks, Joan

Dave, So the Osborne Lights is not a specific show like the Candlelight Processional but instead a continuous musical/light display from 6 p.m. on during the holidays? Are they on until closing time, even during extra magic hour nights? Thanks for helping me understand so I can make my res at Kouzzina for right time. Do you have any experiences at this restaurant or any other restaurant recommendations on or near the Boardwalk? Our big criteria is that it only take one table service credit!

Thanks again to your timely advice, Dave, I nailed down my last December ADR for Be Our Guest. It only took one hour of hanging on between 4–5 a.m. PST, listening to It’s a Small Small World as I tried to nap until the agent came on! So here is our projected itinerary for two Senior Princesses staying in a Royal Room at POR: Day 1: arrival at POR & dinner at Boatwright; Day 2: Epcot EMH, early dinner at Le Cellier; Day 3: Animal Kingdom EMH, Osborne lights at HS, dinner at Kouzzina; Day 4: MK EMH, then see decorations at Grand Floridian and High Tea at Garden View (cash); Day 5: Epcot LateMH, dinner candlelight processional package at Les Chefs de France & Illuminations; Day 6: No Park Saturday. Drive to Cape Canaveral Beach and eat off property; Day 7: Gospel Brunch @ House of Blues (cash), then dinner at Be Our Guest MK and evening @ MVMCP; Day 8: HS, dinner at Mama Melrose’s w/ Fantasia Package; Day 9: breakfast & depart. How does this look to you, Dave? Are we hitting the holiday highlights for adults with this plan?

Dave, My buddy and I will chuckle over my early a.m. reservation “vigil” when we are enjoying our holiday meal at BOG! Now can you please share more with me about rooms to request at POR? It was not our first choice but we needed a moderate price resort with free disney dining. We decided to upgrade to a River View Royal Room since as seniors we plan to spend a fair amount of our “downtime” at the resort and hope the Magnolia Bend section will be a peaceful retreat from the parks. But I read a comment you made to another traveler about the new Royal Rooms being in the least accessible buildings…I believe all the Royal Rooms are in Oak Manor and Parterre Place, right? Should we request the Oak Manor since it looks closer to bridge and services than Parterre ? And if we are in one of front two “wings” of building with a river view, will we be even closer to bridge or do we have to go all the way to main part of building to get to stairs/exit? Never stayed there before so trying to figure this all out from resort map…Thanks!

Hi, Dave! I read somewhere that the MVMCP price used to include a photo with Santa. There is no mention of that in the info and tickets I just received. Does this mean they charge for this photo now? Where do we go to get it and is there usually a long line? Is it the same price as other photos taken by Disney photographers? And are the Disney photographers stationed throughout the park on MVMCP night? We especially wanted one good night photo in front of holiday-lit castle. Thanks!

Hi Joan, I don’t know if it used to, but it doesn’t now, and I’m pretty sure the only place at WDW you can get a photo of your child with Santa is in the American Pavilion at Epcot. There should be plenty of Disney photographers on duty!

Dave, Thanks for the heads up on Santa’s location! Another question: We are thinking of going from POR to SSR for a spa package. While there, we would like to have lunch by the pool and swim at SSR. I know pool hopping is generally forbidden at WDW, but do you think they would allow us to do this as part of our spa day?

Dave, That is disappointing about probably not being able to use pool at SSR. Maybe we should go to the Buena Vista Palace Spa instead which says they have a special pool just for spa guests. Do you know anything about that one? Is it within walking distance of DTD?
Also, what do you think of the Discovery Cove swimming with dolphins adventure for our day off from the parks? Is it worth the hefty admission price if one has dolphin swimming on one’s bucket list? I am afraid that cold temps in December could put a damper on what might be a nice adventure the rest of the year…
Thank you for your valuable input!

Dave, we have resevations for art of Animation June 2013 in the standard room for 4. Problem, a regular bed is unconfortable for 2 of us weighing over 230 each. Can 4 get a family suite at Art of Animation? How much for 3 adults and a 5 year old 06/08/13 through 06/14/13

If all you need is two queens instead of tow fulls, consider Coronado Springs, Port Orleans French Quarter, or Port Orleans Riverside–while having less kid appeal (and much less space!!) they are around $140 a night less expensive than a family suite at AofA. You can find links to these three here: http://yourfirstvisit.net/2009/10/28/the-moderate-resorts-at-walt-disney-world/ (on that page you’ll find links to tow other resorts too–ignore them as they don’t have queens…)

Hi, we are arriving oct 30- thurs nov 8 and staying in the Kissimee area in our friends rental home. Doing the mickey’s halloween party on wed oct 31 and want to do AK one day, mk one day and Hstudios one day. Wondering which days of the week are best bet for lower crowds. Have an autistic 12yr old, an adhd 9yr old and a 2 1/2 yr old. They can get sensory overload so want to space out a bit. Any tips for the jedi training academy, will be the last chance for my avid 12 yr old fan to have a crack at this as 12 is the age limit so don’t want to miss out. Thanks!

Hi Lori, in the first part of your visit the best MK days are the holiday party days–the 30th, 31st, and 2nd. The next best MK days will be the 6th and 7th, but this is during “Jersey Week” (which begins the 4th but gets worse as the week goes on) so the parks will be more crowded. See http://yourfirstvisit.net/2010/05/02/jersey-week-at-walt-disney-world/

For AK good days are the 30th, 31st and the 1st. The week after, the 6th thru 8th will be best.

Hi Dave,
We are having a short trip this time arriving on April 20th, late afternoon, and staying 5 nights with 4 full days. I know the site shows this as a great week to go for low crowds, but I was still wanting to get your opinion if we should avoid certain parks on certain days or if you recommend certain parks on any day. We will have park hopper. It’s a family trip with 4 adults and 2 children ages 10&6. Also, if we are still able to get a reservation to Be Our Guest, would you recommend lunch or dinner. Thank you so much!

Hi Chrystal, are you staying on site? That will affect my day recommendations. Be Our Guest only takes reservations for dinner, and likely booked up for those dates in early November–but you can try! At lunch, it’s counter service with no reservations, and waits for lunch recently have been up to an hour…

Hey Chrystal, those dates you want to avoid HS on Sat, MK on Sun, AK and HS on Mon, Epcot on Tues, AK on Weds, and MK on Thurs. MK will be best Tues and Weds, AK Sun and Tues, HS Sun, Tues and Weds. Epcot will be fine any day but Tues.

Hey Dave. We are going to disney from June 16-20. We are staying at the art of animation resort and are driving. We have the park hopper and plan on doing all the parks and mk twice. What days would you recommend going to each park and would you recommend using disney transportation or driving?

I don’t know if anyone here knows about this site, but my husband works for the police and they have a special site where officers can log in and get great discounts on Disney tickets as well as everything else in Orlando. Even cheaper than Undercovertourist! We use it every time we go and they ship for FREE. They even have a office next to Walt Disney World. This is the site and info.http://www.officialticketcenter.us
log in: POLICE
Pass: police123
I hope this helps!
Sweet P

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This site is entirely unofficial and not authorized by any organizations written about in it . . . All references to Disney and other copyrighted characters, trademarks, marks, etc., are made solely for editorial purposes. The author makes no commercial claim to their use . . . Nobody's perfect, so follow any advice here at your own risk.

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